Welcome to this practice of relaxation,
Awareness,
And mindfulness.
Find your most comfortable seat or you can also do this practice lying down.
See what feels better to you.
Let your body settle.
Acknowledge that this is for you.
This is to build your awareness,
Your ability to be present with any reality.
Begin by taking a deep breath in and then taking a deep breath out through the mouth.
Rest one palm inside the other without crossing them,
Just resting one nestled inside the other.
Feel your shoulders drop.
Feel your chest release.
Feel your belly release.
Feel your legs become heavy and soft.
Feel your feet grounded.
Relax the muscles of your face and now find your breath.
Once you've found the feeling of your breath,
Commit to the posture you are in right now.
Commit to stillness.
Every time you inhale,
Say in your mind the word inhale.
Every time you exhale,
Say in your mind the word exhale.
And stay with the breath.
Coming back to the words inhale,
Exhale when the mind wanders.
Coming back again and again.
Stay with the feeling of the breath and the words inhale,
Exhale.
Begin now for three minutes.
Nothing but you and the simplicity of focusing on the breath and returning to the breath.
Keeping your shoulders,
Your chest,
Your belly relaxed.
Come back to the breath and stay with the breath.
Staying as still as you can for just a few more moments.
And now we'll move into a relaxation practice which is always an act of self-compassion in addition to being a mindfulness practice.
Imagine you could release your left toe and your right toe.
Release the feet and notice if there's any vibrations in the feet.
Release the legs and feel the thighs,
The knees,
The calves.
Feel into your glutes.
Feel your pelvis.
Feel your hips.
Feel your belly.
Feel the chest.
Feel the lower back.
And notice your ribcage.
Especially notice the movement in your ribcage.
Feel the chest.
Feel the shoulders.
Feel the arms.
The elbows.
Feel the forearms.
Feel the wrists.
Feel the backs of the hands.
Feel the palms.
And feel your fingertips.
Feel your neck and throat.
Place your awareness on your chin.
Place your awareness on your jaw.
On your cheeks.
On just your left ear.
On just your right ear.
Place your awareness on the eyes and the eyebrows.
On your forehead and the scalp.
And now we will do some healing breathing throughout the body.
Imagine that the breath can go right into your scalp.
So as if you had a blowhole at the top of your head,
It goes into your scalp,
Passes through the body,
And goes out the soles of the feet.
And imagine the breath could come in the soles of the feet,
Pass through the body,
And leave the top of the head.
So sending the breath into the top of the head at your own pace,
Out through the soles of the feet,
And back into the soles of the feet.
Do this breath for one minute.
Feel the breath pass through the entire field of sensation that is your body.
And now end with one delicious deep breath out at your own pace.
Taking a full breath.
Taking the air in,
Releasing the air out.
And when you feel ready,
Thank yourself for having done this practice.
And as you open your eyes,
Bring this awareness with you.
